It's Not the Sweet N Low

Am I the only one who does this? 

The new healthier lifestyle isn't going so great and suddenly I start thinking about all the things I've read or heard about certain foods I eat that might not be good for me.

"Oh, if I would stop drinking coffee I'd lose weight." 

"It's the white bread I use for sandwiches on occasion.  In fact, it's all the carbs; definitely the carbs' fault I cannot control how much or what I'm eating."

"No, it's the Sweet 'n Low.  I've read that it can cause sugar cravings and that must be why I'm overeating." 

A thought or two along these lines will hit followed by...

"I'll stop eating/drinking ________ and then I'll have no desire to eat anything unhealthy again and the weight will drop off, or magically stay in a safe place, without hardly any effort by me."

So, I brush my teeth, crawl into bed and toy with the idea of being very stringent about x, y or z because I'm sure that's why my weight is up, or my spirits are down. *

Then comes the alarm clock and as the new day dawns I realize once again that drastic measures are not the answer to living a healthier life.  Yes, there may be some truth to all of the above statements, but they are not the main reason I struggle with my weight.  

Because the fact is, I know people who do none of those things and are still unhealthy or overweight.  

Curbing certain things in my life may ease the struggle to eat healthier, but the truth of the matter is I need to eat only what my body needs -- versus filling up on excess food when my body tells me it's full.  

It's as simple as that.  

Maybe some people feel that drastic measures are how they want to live their lives, but I'm just not like that.  I have changed a lot of my eating habits -- quite honestly the above are probably the things I keep refusing to change -- but I'm more of an "all things in moderation" type of girl.

So, when I'm feeling bloated and overweight, it's usually from the large meal or chocolate ice cream with peanut butter mixed in that I really didn't have room for added to the fact I hadn't exercised and probably not so much from the Sweet n Low I used in my coffee that morning.  Just saying. 

*Note:  Another thought for another time...did you notice these thoughts hit me right before bed?  It's ALWAYS in the evenings that I go through this.  hhmm....